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| Lt. William White did not survive a mission with future President George H.W. Bush flying a TBM-1C Avenger. http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/300055-yale-skull-and-bones-lt-william-gardner-white-usn-tailgunner-of-george-hw-bush-ww2-322/ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56135285/william-gardner-white http://ww2today.com/2-september-1944-usnr-lt-george-h-w-bush-shot-down-in-dive-bomb-attack |
William Gardner "Ted" White never had a chance to reach 101 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on February 25, 1918 in Minnesota. His parents Edwin and Anna were born in Massachusetts and Ohio, respectively. His father worked as a president of a stocks and bonds firm and later as an investment banker. William had an older sister. After attending high school in Minnesota, William attended Yale University. He was a member of the secretive and exclusive Skull and Bones Society and graduated in 1942.
William joined the Navy and was commissioned as an ensign in June 1942. He rose to the rank of lieutenant, junior grade and became the squadron ordnance officer in VT-51 which was assigned to the light carrier USS San Jacinto. VT-51 was equipped with TBM-1C Avenger torpedo bombers.
On September 2, 1944 VT-51 was given the mission to bomb a radio transmitter on Chichi Jima. One of the pilots, flying a plane he named Barbara II, was Lt. George H. W. Bush, also a Yale man. His father and William's father were Yale classmates from a prior generation. Lt. White took the place of Lt. Bush's normal rear gunner for this mission so he could make some observations of the island. Bush's normal radioman, John Delaney, was the third member of the crew that day.
As Lt. Bush made his bomb run, he flew through heavy flak. His plane was hit in the belly, with fires spreading on one of the wings. He successfully released his four 500 pound bombs and flew out to sea. He realized he would never make it back to San Jacinto, so he ordered the crew to bale.
As the gunner, Lt. White would not have been wearing a parachute during the flight. The procedure for an Avenger bomber was to only put it on if the plane was in danger of going down, otherwise it was in the way. He probably did not have the training to quickly don the chute and jump and likely went down with the plane. Observers saw a second man jump (probably Delaney) but his chute did not deploy.
Lt. Bush was in a life raft for four hours before being rescued by the submarine USS Finback. Had he not been rescued, he would never have been elected President of the United States. The Japanese on Chichi Jima regularly killed their prisoners and ritually ate parts of them.
One well connected Yale grad from a prominent family makes it home and becomes President of the United States. Meanwhile, another well connected Yale grad from a prominent family is largely forgotten. We will never know what accomplishments Lt. White could have achieved had he made it home.
Lt. White is memorialized at the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.
Last year on this date I profiled B-24 Kenneth Barber. You can read about Kenneth here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
Thank you for your bravery and service. As long as there are
ReplyDeletePlaces like this to tell the story of our fine American service men and women you will not be forgotten. R.I.P